Investment not the primary motivation of Chinese buyers - survey

Investment not the primary motivation of Chinese buyers - survey

While there is certainly no shortage of enterprising real estate investors from China, a new survey uncovered a surprising reason among Chinese buyers for getting into the Canadian housing market.

Released on Tuesday (March 7), the results of the survey jointly conducted by Juwai.com and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada found that education was the leading motive among potential Chinese home buyers who were considering properties in major Canadian markets last year, The Canadian Press reported.

46 per cent of Chinese would-be buyers who were looking at Montreal listings cited education as their primary objective. 44 per cent were looking at a Vancouver purchase, while 41 per cent were in Toronto and 9 per cent were in Calgary.

On the other hand, only 27 per cent of prospective buyers from China who were searching for Vancouver and Toronto properties listed investment as their main reason. 23 per cent were in Montreal, and 21 per cent were in Calgary.

Sotheby’s International Realty Canada president Brad Henderson noted that the survey results belied the widespread notion of Chinese influence in the Canadian real estate investment sector.

“I really think a lot of perception that people have around foreign buyers and specifically buyers from mainland China are informed by more anecdotal information and not statistics,” Henderson said, adding that most Chinese property searches in the study timeframe were for Canadian homes valued below $655,050.

“While home buyers from mainland China have been identified as a notable segment of foreign purchases within the luxury property markets of Vancouver and Toronto, Juwai.com data dispels the assumption that Chinese interest is limited to the high-end segment,” the report explained. “Instead, it implies that conventional real estate dominates demand.”